


StardewTale: Welcome to Pelican Town!

by EnbyHyena (Parad0xImminent)



Category: Stardew Valley, Undertale
Genre: Angst, Because Lewis is a Jerk, Character Death, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Depression, Discrimination, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Human/Monster Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Knife fights, M/M, Minor Spoilers, Near Death Experiences, No More Resets (Undertale), Other, Overcoming Grief, Panic Attacks, Past Character Death, Pierre as Mayor, Post-Canon, Post-Canon (Stardew), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Spoilers, Spoilers (Stardew), Spoilers for Stardew, StardewTale, Storyline Spoilers, coping with loss, monster racism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:27:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26222647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Parad0xImminent/pseuds/EnbyHyena
Summary: It’s been three years since Monsters surfaced, two years since they had been allowed to reintegrate, and one year since Sans became the sole resident of his topside house in Ebott City. Feeling choked by memories he’d rather forget, he makes the rash decision to move to a small village in Stardew Valley. Quickly he learns that there’s a somber side to the facetiously peppy Pelican Town. And there’s someone in particular that he can’t help but feel inexplicably drawn to...Shane swore he'd never let himself care about anyone again. Whentheyhad passed away, it nearly broke him. Enter Sans, a skeleton that seems Hellbent on weaseling into his life anyway.AKA two sad nerds are trying to run away from their pasts, but it's ultimately their pasts that bring them together.
Relationships: Sans & Shane, Sans (Undertale) & Shane (Stardew Valley), Sans (Undertale)/Shane (Stardew Valley), Sans/Shane
Comments: 34
Kudos: 34





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This idea just spontaneously occurred to me last night. I wrote down a bunch of notes for the basic direction I wanted the plot to go in, but other than that it's not very set in stone. All I know is that I don't plan for this to be ridiculously long due to my short attention span; maybe 5 chapters. I haven't written in a pretty long time--and I feel a little goofy writing a Crossover like this--but bear with me and leave comments/kudos to let me know if you like it!
> 
> EDIT: This story will be 6 chapters. A prologue, a chapter for each season, and an epilogue.

_“Sans, you need to get away from here. Find somewhere you can hide.”_

_“No bro. I won’t leave you here!”_

_“Sans, I’m serious! I can do this. Please, just go!”_

_“...”_

-

A skeleton Monster sat in a seat on a bus, staring out the window as hills of green rolled by like ocean waves. In his hand he held a slightly wrinkled brochure. **‘Come to the Valley, start a new life!’** It had been three years since Monsterkind came up from the Underground, and two years since they were permitted to fully reintegrate into the Surface world. One year since…

He looked at the brochure again. It was an impulsive decision. But he felt stifled and paranoid in the big city--he knew he needed the change.

**'Welcome to Stardew Valley!**

**Tired of living in the rush of the big city? Longing for everything to slow down and to reconnect with your environment? Then look no further than Pelican Town! A peaceful village nestled in the heart of Stardew Valley, it’s the most sought-after place to live on this side of the Ferngill Republic! Move here and you can…'**

Sans stopped reading when the bus came to a stop, brakes softly screeching. He was in the back of the bus, but no other passengers motioned to get up, so he grabbed what little belongings he could carry (that he hadn’t haphazardly shoved into his Inventory, of course) and walked to the front. There were only a few other passengers aboard, and each of them gave the skeleton Monster a wide berth. But he paid it no mind--he was used to it.

He could only hope that the people who lived here would be more understanding.

He hadn’t exactly specified that he was a Monster to the person he communicated with on the phone; but he did heavily imply it. Nearly every place Sans looked into either spouted rhetoric upon discovering his race, or outright hung up on him. This was the only place not to do that, and he was running out of options. The only thing Sans knew was that he couldn’t afford to stay in Ebott City any longer. Once Passports became officially internationally recognized for Monsterkind, he had taken his chance and jumped ship. It wasn’t like anything was tying him down anyways.

Stepping off the bus, backpack slung across his back and a duffel in each hand, Sans focused on two people who began their approach. The bus hissed and the doors shut before it sped off, leaving nigh a trace but the slightest hint of burning gasoline. A woman with bright red hair and a bespectacled man with reddish-but-slightly-graying hair both approached him. To their credit they only hesitated slightly, Sans mused as his seemingly permanent smile relaxed a fraction.

“Hello! Sans, right? My name is Robin! I’m the local carpenter.” The woman took his outstretched hand, shaking it hard enough to tug him forward. Her grip was strong, her fingers calloused, and a ponytail sat high up on her head. He nodded politely but wordlessly and turned to the other human, who held out his hand as well, but shook much more delicately. “Pierre. I’m the mayor. It’s a pleasure.”

“It’s good that you’re here,” Robin said, smiling albeit a bit grimly. “We were beginning to worry nobody would ever move back into that old farmhouse...it’s been so sad to see it void of life these past few years. The community here has done its best to maintain it, but it really needs someone to live in it.” Pierre nodded in agreement. _‘Whoever lived here last must’ve been important to the town, for them to go so out of their way to maintain it.’_ That was common for Monsters to do for Fallen loved ones, but if there was anything Sans had learned about humanity the last several years, it was that they rarely did anything without some sort of initiative or drive to do so. Whether it was doing a small favor or saving a life.

“But now it’ll go to you! If you’ll just follow us, we’ll show you the way. We finished cleaning it up in preparation for your arrival earlier this morning.” Sans nodded and followed the pair as they led him away from the bus stop and took a right on the fork. It was about a five minute walk, but finally the fencing and well manicured trees parted into a massive clearing. Just a few yards ahead lay a cottage-style farmhouse with a red roof. It looked worn but well cared-for, and in spite of himself Sans was struck with a sense of nostalgia. It didn’t look that much different from his old home back Underground.

“Well, here we are!” Robin gestured grandly. It would seem she was interested in doing most of the talking, and Pierre was just tagging along because he was mayor and must’ve been expected to. He had yet to make any faces or say anything rude, so Sans wouldn’t pass judgement yet. After all, it wasn’t like they were best friends. There wasn’t really a reason to be friendly if he didn’t want to be.

“It’s a little overgrown, but it has a coop, barn, and silo! With some hard work and dedication, I’m sure it’ll be restored to its’ former glory in no time!” Sans swept his gaze across the property, noticing that some trees were sprouting from the untilled soil, and weeds were rampant. If he squinted he could just see the treeline that led to the forest beyond. “That’s Cindersap forest. Marnie’s ranch is there, you can buy any ranching supplies from her when you’re ready!” Robin supplied. Sans nodded, and Pierre finally took the lead, fishing a keyring from his pocket to open the Farmhouse door.

“Let’s go inside, and you can see what you’ll be living in.” Pierre said, stepping aside so that Sans could go first, Robin second, and him last. The skeleton took in his surroundings, noting that there was hardly even a speck of dust in the space around them. The townsfolk had really outdone themselves in maintaining the place. He was impressed. The wallpaper coordinated nicely with the floor. There was a kitchen open-connected to a central living space, which broke off into what appeared to be a master bedroom off to the right. Overall it was very homey. He could see himself living here.

“It looks great.” Sans said, stepping further into the home to inspect it more closely. There was a television on the far wall that looked like it hadn’t been used in a long time, accompanied by a richly shaded red sofa and matching rug with golden embroidery. It complimented the rosewood floors well. The kitchen was void of all except the most basic of appliances, and Sans wondered if they were in storage or if he would have to buy some. Nestled in the corner of the room was a small dining table with four chairs, a simple tablecloth thrown over it.

“The property is cheap, especially if you decide to do anything with the space outside.” Pierre piped in, causing Sans to turn back around to face him. “My wife Caroline runs the seed shop in town. You can buy seeds to grow crops, and once you’ve got your feet underneath you a bit, you can get livestock if you want. But as it is, the property costs 600g a month. I believe that's about 400G in Monster Gold?” As it turned out, Ferngill Republic used a currency very similar to Monster currency. And so the only distinction made was capitalization--Monster Gold was simply worth more per piece, being much more refined. It didn’t take Sans long to figure that out, and since he was a Boss Monster he was among the first to Surface. This made it easy to transfer all of his Gold into human currency. Since Gold was very valuable at the time--before the rest of the Monster population crashed the market for it--he made a veritable fortune. He could do nothing with this place and still be just fine for a long while.

“That’s not bad at all,” Sans replied, looking around once more before nodding. “I’ll take it.” Both of the humans’ eyes lit up at this, before they each broke into a smile, shattering Pierre’s stoicism up to this point.

“Then we’ll get the Deed ready for you. If you’ll just come to the Town Hall, we’ll get you situated by tonight.” The previous mayor’s manor was remodeled and repurposed once he moved out. Due to multiple sabotages to his community, he had been forced to step down and was shunned until he left Stardew Valley altogether. The manor was thenceforth turned into a Town Hall of sorts, where all paperwork and town concerns were addressed _properly._ There were quarterly check-ins to ensure power was no longer being abused, and any changes made were to be announced to the public. 

Setting his luggage off to the side where it wouldn’t trip anyone, Sans followed Robin and Pierre back out of the house. Once the door was locked, Pierre took the key off his ring before handing it to Sans, who placed it into his own pocket. The three of them then made the trek back from where they came, passing the bus stop and heading into Pelican Town.

It was indeed a tiny community, with small groups of villagers milling about their business. A woman with curly blonde hair gently tapped a sheet of paper to a bulletin board in front of ‘Pierre and Caroline’s’ next to what appeared to be a calendar, before walking away. Two teenagers sat underneath a tree, writing or drawing in notebooks. One possessed jet black hair up in French braids, and the other a messy mop of reddish hair. They sat hip-to-hip, chattering amongst themselves. There was nothing loud about this place, a stark contrast to how it was in Ebott. Even though there was activity, Sans felt a wave of calm wash over him at the sight.

As he wandered further into the town, trailing behind Pierre and Robin, he got some looks. None were aggressive, merely curious; studying him as he walked by. A young man stopped playing with his dog to watch, gaze following Sans as he passed. The skeleton offered a small wave, smiling in a way he hoped was reassuring, before the man turned away and resumed what he was doing. Sans turned his gaze back to where he was walking, entering a sizable building that was notably more modern than the buildings in the rest of the town.

“Well since we’ve made it here, I think I’ll leave things up to you Pierre. I have to get back to the workshop, projects to finish and all that.” Pierre nodded to Robin and muttered a farewell, occupied with sorting through a filing cabinet, searching for something. The red-head took that as her cue to leave before stepping out with a final wave to Sans, who reciprocated. Now alone, Sans shuffled more nervously. There was nothing to fear, not really; he could shortcut easily in a pinch and this man looked too old to be any real threat, but long ago he’d made it a point to never underestimate a human.

_“Heh...you never give up, do you?”_

_“Dirty brother killer!”_

-

_“I’ll never forgive you for what you did. Before we start, let me ask you a question…_

_are you ready to have a Bad Time?”_

-

There were no witnesses if anything were to go wrong. This man was the mayor--likely highly respected by this community. Fortunately Sans wouldn’t have to worry as Pierre seemed to have found what he was looking for. The human man stood up and turned to face Sans as he put a manila folder down on his desk. “Feel free to sit in the chair across from me here, Sans.” The Monster obliged, sitting across from Pierre who began to go over the covenant. Before long the process was over and the Deed was sealed, now officially in his name. The two of them shook hands once more before Sans bid farewell. He walked outside and looked around to make sure nobody was watching before shortcutting straight back to the farmhouse.

Looking out the window, Sans could see that the sun was now beginning to set in the valley, the hills around him casting shadows over his new property. Tomorrow would be the official beginning of his new life here. For now, he was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to fall into his new bed. So he did just that, removing his jacket and draping it over the back of the sofa before walking to the bedroom and falling into the old bed. He would need to order a new mattress soon. But for now it didn’t matter, as he curled up and closed his eyes, falling into an uneasy slumber.


	2. Year One, Summer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This encounter only solidified his decision. By the Angel, he would get through to this man. Stars knew they both needed it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter 2! (Technically chapter 1, the previous chapter was a prologue.) I've decided this story will be 6 chapters, with a prologue, a chapter for each season, and an epilogue. That seems easy enough for my short attention span.
> 
> This chapter kind of goes in a lot of directions, but I'm intentionally doing that to establish some world-building and give you a glimpse into the past without outright saying anything yet. Since this is a short story, I have to shove a lot of information down y'alls throats in a short amount of time. Lol.
> 
> So please bear with me!

It’s now Summer, and Sans has officially been here for three months.

A lot of interesting things happened since the day he arrived. On the first day, Sans got caught by Pierre using his Blue magic to clear away the debris cluttering the farm. The man had been on his way to deliver some complimentary ‘welcome seeds’ from his wife’s shop. That encounter was both worrying and hilarious, because the poor human turned pale as a sheet. Fortunately, the mayor had yet to bring it up in conversation.

Later that same day Sans, thought to visit the Saloon and met a man named Gus. He learned that he was the bartender there. A jolly older man, he reminded Sans a lot of Grillby. However, there was one key difference: he was very...loquacious.

_Where everyone kept up the jovial atmosphere in the bar, a dark cloud hung over a single man sequestered to the corner. Sans got caught staring, though fortunately it wasn’t by the man himself. Gus leaned over the bar, passing the skeleton an extra bottle of ketchup before following his gaze. “Shane’s had it pretty hard,” he said in a low, conspiratorial tone. It was far removed from his typical hearty cheerfulness, leaning more towards reserved and melancholy. “The Farmhouse you live in? He was the husband of the owner. They died a few years back, right before Monsterkind surfaced.” Sans felt a well of empathy build inside of him at that. He knew what that felt like, and so resolved to get on Shane’s good side._

_“What do you want?” Shane asked as Sans approached. “I don’t know you, leave me alone.” The bar suddenly went tense and quiet aside from the inappropriately peppy tune the jukebox played. All eyes were on the two of them. Shane clutched a silver can of beer, while Sans carried his ketchup bottle. He noticed the slightly taller man snort in disgust at his choice in ‘beverage’._

_“Don’t ya know how to greet a new pal?” Sans inquired. Shane’s eyebrows rose as if incredulous before his eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Gus set you up to talk to me, didn’t he? Look, bub, it ain’t gonna work. It’s better for us both if you just leave me alone.”_

_Sans didn’t even so much as startle at Shane’s harsh words. But internally, he could feel his SOUL pound with the beginnings of anxiety. He needed to nail this thing right, or else Shane might actually never talk to him again. He felt determined to get through to Shane. He was open with his pain in a way that Sans envied._

Looking back, Sans felt that if he were human, he would have appeared identical to Shane. He looked the way Sans felt. Not to mention they both wore similar blue hoodies. _Heh._

_”Actually, I walked up to you 100% of my own volition.” Sans replied. “You looked lonely over here. I’m in a room full of people I hardly know. Can’t a lonely guy keep a fellow lonely guy company?” Shane didn’t reply, and so Sans pulled up a chair and sat down next to him. The noise around them resumed, and the two drank their preferred beverages in silence for the rest of the evening until Shane wordlessly stood up and went home._

Later on Sans managed to befriend Robin and Demetrius’ daughter, Maru. The first time they met, she was visibly fascinated by him. It was a little uncomfortable at first, but he grew to appreciate her curious nature and love of science. It reminded Sans of himself when he was younger. Maru invited him to watch her build an invention once, and felt both embarrassed and devastated when it didn’t work the way she hoped. To her shock Sans gently and non-condescendingly told her what she did wrong, and when his suggestion ended up being correct, she started inviting him over more often. Together they started working on little projects here and there, tinkering with screws and wires while Maru pried information out of Sans about his past. He kept it close to his chest at first, but slowly began to open up about the various projects he worked on back Underground. When told to keep it to herself and tell no-one, she nodded and promised.

Sans hadn’t spoken to Alex much, although they did cross paths a few times. On the way to the beach one day, Sans witnessed the young man perching on his knees in front of two tombstones, organized side-by-side. He held a bouquet of flowers in his hand--a somber blue, rather than the pink, white, and red assortment of a dating bouquet--and was seemingly talking to himself. Sans paused to watched, feeling guilty for eavesdropping but none-the-less curious. When Alex stood up and left, Sans ducked behind a bush and waited until he was alone before investigating the graveyard himself.

**‘George and “Granny” Evelyn Mullner. 19XX-20XX.  
Dearly beloved grandparents to Alex and friends to all of Pelican Town. Yoba Bless.’**

Even though Sans never met these people in life, he couldn’t help but feel sad on Alex’s behalf. That was when he truly became privy to the more somber undertones to this sleepy little town. Aside from the senior Mullners Sans also found tombstones labeled with the name of the Farmer--which for some reason sent chills down his spine--and someone named ‘Linus’. Compared to the Mullners and the Farmer, his slab of stone had much less to say.

\--

It was a rainy morning, though Sans was certain it would be gone by the time the sun properly rose. It was just after six o’clock in the morning, a time the skeleton was practically never awake. But he had been up for the better part of the night working on a project off to the side of the house. Some time ago he discovered two shrines in the upper corner of his property. One was labeled with the name of some man that he didn’t know the importance of, but assumed was the initial owner. The other was crafted in a similar style and bore the name of the Farmer. Over and over again he witnessed this name enshrined in various parts of the town. It was bizarre, like being haunted. Still, it was his property and so he spent the night creating a sort-of makeshift shrine of his own. Gouging out the soaking mud and stone in the hillside, he painstakingly hand carved a bone design into a boulder that he’d hefted from elsewhere on the property before slotting it neatly into the wall with Blue magic.

Beneath the bone carving he wrote,  
**‘Papyrus Serif. XXXX-20XX.  
A ray of sunshine and a beloved brother, taken away too soon.’**

Sans then took a small burned-shut tin can and balanced it in a square slot between the bone design and the words. It was the little Dust that was left over from Papyrus’ Spreading ceremony. Sans thought back to all the times he was weighed down by his depression, unable to participate in his brother’s shenanigans while there were shenanigans to participate in. Such as writing his name in a snow poff rather than making an actual sculpture; pretending he didn’t know how to cook; falling asleep at his sentry station at every opportunity. Once they’d made it to the Surface, Sans experienced no chance to begin his recovery before everything was cut short.

After all, life loved throwing him curve balls.

He would do anything if he thought it could bring Papyrus back. He wanted so dearly for his brother to return and praise him for all the progress he’s made since then. He also wished that he could take his brother’s place. After all...

 **that** day nearly Dusted him, too.

_”Papyrus!”_

_Sans had returned. He knew in his chest that something was wrong, and he returned, but it was too late._

_“Sans?”_

_Stupid, he was so stupid--of course he could’ve handled those humans._

_“Papyrus! Pap--Pap, it’s gonna be okay. Just- let me call someone. L-let me call a Healer--”_

_But they didn’t have enough LV for his KR to do anything; by himself he could only ever do one damage._

_“It’s alright, Sans. Shh. Just breathe, okay? I’m so happy to see you...one last time…”_

_“No! Don’t you talk to me like that! We’re gonna get you help. It’s supposed to be different this time. You were supposed to live! You have to live!”_

_He couldn’t shortcut. The hand that clutched Papyrus’ skull and lifted it from the pavement came away dark with powder. Dust. A shortcut would only seal his fate._

_“You have to promise me, brother. Promise me that you’ll go on to live a happy life here on the Surface.”_

_“No! I said don’t talk like that! We’re supposed to be here on the Surface together. You can’t just give up now!”_

Sans shook himself out of the memory before he could spiral too far. Used his sleeve to wipe the tears off his face, then stood up. He long since replaced his hoodie and jogging shorts with a more practical white sweater and overalls. Even though it was the summertime, he didn’t overheat. He wondered if Papyrus would have chewed him out anyways.

_“Sans, you can’t just go outside in a t-shirt and shorts! You’ll chill to the bone!” Papyrus exclaimed._

_“Heh. S’ok bro. **Snow** big deal. **Chill** out. It’s not like I’ll freeze or anything.”_

_“Nyeh! Those are terrible! At least put this on, if for nothing but my peace of mind.” Papyrus handed Sans a hand-made blue jacket, complete with a fuzzy collared hood. The smaller skeleton’s eye-lights tripled in size before he took it and put it on._

_“You’re the **coolest** bro. You never **flake** on me.”_

_“Nyehh!”_

This memory was much more pleasant. It had been the first time he ever wore that jacket, years and years ago. Since then, Sans mended it several times. Right now it hung up in the closet in his bedroom. He didn’t want to get it stained, after all. But Sans wore it whenever he hit the town, donning it in place of his work clothes so he didn’t track dirt into businesses.

Sans worked in the fields all day. Soon he would be able to afford to install a sprinkler system, and this would become much easier. The old sprinklers were long since broken.

Once finished with outdoor chores, Sans went to the chicken coop. The rain stopped by now, so he made a note to open the door once he was done. He’d adopted three chickens shortly after moving in; a blue one from Marnie (it was a 'welcome to town' gift, Marnie informed him Shane bred the odd creatures himself), a regular white one also from Marnie (he paid for that one) and a black “Void chicken” he’d gotten from a Shadowperson in the sewers (also paid, but apparently at a discount.)

Meeting Krobus was a strange thing, at least at first. Sans was exploring the forest when he walked by the sewers and heard some moaning coming from within. Thinking someone might be trapped he peered through the bars into the dark tunnel before shortcutting inside and discovering the source. Shadowpeople weren't technically Monsters, but Krobus could’ve passed as one if he really wanted to. He seemed hesitant about the idea of leaving the sewers because even though Monsters were generally viewed as citizens of the world now, sunlight remained a thing. Plus there was the Explorers Guild, which remained in business and still continued to lay waste to lesser creatures in the mines. Apparently Krobus only ever knew and trusted one human outright, and that human was the Farmer. Over and over again, that same name. Was there nobody here they didn’t befriend?

Sans’ first encounter with Marlon didn’t exactly go well. It wasn’t outright aggressive, but the man was openly cold towards him. They first crossed paths at the Flower Dance festival. He took one look at Sans before telling him simply to ‘not make any motions to hurt the village’, and then walked the other way. Sans didn’t feel very threatened, but it wasn’t like he was up to anything anyways. Whether or not Marlon accepted him was the old geezer’s problem alone.

-

On the southern end of the farm, Shane was walking up onto the property from Cindersap forest. He was carrying a load of feed that Sans ordered from the shop a couple of days back. Since Joja Mart went out of business he’d switched to doing odd jobs, but for the most part helped around on Marnie’s ranch. Since Sans moved into the Farmhouse his life had been made Hell, but it was only worsened when the Monster bought his first livestock.

Shane wasn’t a racist. No, he didn’t give a single damn about Sans looking like a human skeleton rose from the dead...even though it _had_ been a bit unnerving at first. The Monster was amicable enough to self-normalize his own presence; already he was worming his way into becoming a true member of the community. No, the problem Shane was experiencing lay in the fact Marnie was insisting that he (and only he) make the deliveries to Sanctuary Farm. The very Farm he moved away from years ago.

It was like a slap to the face, seeing it. Years of memories existed in this place, now mere ghosts of his past that continued to torment him. His therapist warned him back then that using the Farmer as his sole emotional crutch was reckless, and now he regretted not listening. They weren’t supposed to leave him so soon. Their death had landed him almost back to square one. He wasn’t (as) suicidal and didn’t drink (as much), but being forced to come here made him wish he did.

 _“Go make friends with him,”_ Marnie nudged. _“_ **They** _may be gone now, but think like Emily. Everything happens for a reason.”_

Shane wanted to call bullshit, to yell at her for suggesting that it was a _good_ thing the Farmer passed away. But he didn't dare to. Especially while Jas was in earshot. She may be a teenager now, but that didn’t mean Marnie wouldn’t bite his head off for cursing and yelling around her. It wasn’t worth it anyways; he never won an argument against Marnie.

Halfway to the front door, something caught Shane’s eye and he stopped. A new shrine seemed to have been built...right beside his Farmer’s. Walking closer, he read what was inscribed onto the stone, a lump of an emotion he couldn't place forming in his throat. Sans had a brother, and that brother was dead?

A lot of things made sense then. Shane left the row of shrines and continued his quest to the Farmhouse. Right as he made it up onto the porch and set the feed down, he jumped nearly two feet into the air when he heard a soft ‘heya’ from behind him. Turning around there stood Sans, one hand hovering in the air in a greeting.

“Uh, hey,” Shane said, turning to face the other completely. “Yoba, don’t scare me like that Sans.” He gestured to the feed resting at his ankle on the step. “I uh, brought you your feed order. So I’ll be heading home now.” He made to step beside the skeleton and scurry home, but was stopped when Sans stepped just enough into his path to shoulder check him. How did he move so fast? Shane pivoted on his heel, about to exclaim a ‘what the Hell, man?’ when he saw that the other was holding out his closed fist to him, fingers down.

“You’re forgetting your tip.” Sans said, grinning cheekily. “You humans...you tip each other as thanks for service, yeah?” Hesitantly, Shane accepted the gold. Their fingers brushed and as Shane jerked his hand away at the soft porcelain feeling, several things occurred to him at once. First off, Sans’ hand was surprisingly warm. Second off, he felt the divot between the other’s phalanges, which was really freaky and felt nothing like a human hand. Third, touching Monster felt like touching an old television screen; his bones were smooth and buzzed, almost vibrating, like there was some sort of electro-static current running through him.

Realizing he’d been staring down where Sans’ hand used to be, Shane cleared his throat before straightening up. “Thanks. See you around.” With that, he made a hasty exit.

-

Out of all the people Sans met here so far, Shane seemed the most interesting. Strange though was that there wasn’t even anything particularly outstanding about him. He was a shelf stocker-turned-farmhand living with his Aunt and Goddaughter. He tended to the animals and then drank himself under the table at the Saloon. But Sans knew what it was that drew him to the other. It was the sadness in his eyes. The same sort of sadness that lingered in Sans’ own.

This encounter only solidified his decision. By the Angel, he would get through to this man. Stars knew they both needed it.


	3. Year One, Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What?” Shane asked, feigning disinterest but also somewhat awkward. Sans at least looked sheepish.
> 
> “Well, I was wondering if you’d like to uh...hang out on Spirit’s Eve?” Shane almost laughed at the absurdity of it. Here he was, just thinking about Sans scaring people. A Monster at a monster-themed holiday.
> 
> “What would you even dress as? A human?” Shane joked, and he could’ve swore he saw a mischievous glint in Sans’ eye before he bust out into unrestrained laughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to the people that have commented and left Kudos so far! I hope you like this installment, and be sure to comment down below what your thoughts are.
> 
> Note: I intend to upload a chapter each day, maybe two on days I feel up to it. We're halfway done at this point and I intend to see this little pet project through. I have a skeleton (heh) of the plot for the rest of the story already laid out, I just need to flesh it out more. Remember, your comments give me fuel and encourage me to write faster! ;>

As months passed and Sans took time getting to know the villagers, he found himself spending more time frequenting the Stardrop Saloon. As it got colder and Summer turned to Fall, the cozy establishment only grew warmer. It was also a hot spot for the latest gossip. Apparently tomorrow was the Spirit’s Eve festival, and everyone both young and old was excited about it.

Gossip and socializing aside, there was one true motive to Sans making it a point to visit each night. That reason was Shane.

Every night Shane would stroll into the Saloon, order a cold one, and then brood in the corner. Sometimes Sans would accompany him, sometimes he’d sit somewhere else. But when the two _did_ keep each other company, they rarely spoke to one another. The most direct interaction they had was whenever Shane brought Sans his ranch orders.

There was one time recently that Sans recalled particularly fondly.

_Shane was approaching the farmhouse one morning at around 9am. Sans was tending to his chickens, which were grazing outside along the run. Suddenly the shadow of a crow cast on the ground, spooking the Void chicken--Sans named her Velcro--who must have thought it was a predator. This set off a chain of events beginning with the bird flying over the fence. Shane dropped his load and broke into a wild sprint. Sans wasn’t far behind, the Monster jumping artfully over the fence. The pair chased the chicken around for at least ten minutes, herding it back and forth across the property and away from the exits that would lead to the mountains, the bus stop, or the forest._

_At some point during the chase, Sans remembered he could use Blue magic and with a flick of his wrist, Velcro clucked in surprise before tripping over her own feet. He’d deliberately used his magic in a way that would make it look like the bird merely lost her footing. Shane seized the opportunity and took an athlete’s dive, tackling the chicken to the ground and pinning her flailing wings to her sides. The action was so practiced that Sans couldn’t help but be impressed even though he helped. Shane stood up, gently petting the hen’s head and neck until she slowly but surely relaxed._

_“When Jas was a little girl, she would spook the hens a lot,” Shane supplied, handing Velcro to Sans. The skeleton accepted, cradling the avian gingerly. “She thought it was funny, and I had to catch them. I’ve had a lot of practice.”_

_“You run fast,” Sans complimented without thinking, and Shane blushed before looking away. Not adding anything to the conversation. A silence spread between the two of them, before suddenly Shane remembered why he was here in the first place and ran to go grab Sans’ order--this time a shipment of hay, stacked neatly in bales on a wheelbarrow. Sans planned on getting sheep, and wanted to be well stocked beforehand. He approached just as Sans finished placing Velcro back on the run, wheelbarrow squeaking as it rolled along._

_Like the first time and many times since then, Sans offered Shane a tip. At this point he knew that even if he declined, the Monster would insist. Sans always tipped him way too much. This time it was 200g, easily more than the shipment itself costed._

_Shane mumbled a ‘thanks’, and turned to leave. But like the first time he’d made his delivery, Sans was suddenly in his way. He’d turned around, only to nearly run right into the skeleton Monster. He was just in front of Shane the second before he’d turned. The taller felt the crackle of magic charging the air around them and wondered if he used it somehow to move as fast as he did. Somehow, he knew Sans was exactly the type of person to use this power to spook people. He made enough bad jokes that Shane would be shocked if he wasn’t also a part-time prankster._

_“What?” Shane asked, feigning disinterest but also somewhat awkward. Sans at least looked sheepish._

_“Well, I was wondering if you’d like to uh...hang out on Spirit’s Eve?” Shane almost laughed at the absurdity of it. Here he was, just thinking about Sans scaring people. A Monster at a monster-themed holiday. They wouldn’t even need to break out the skeleton decorations. They had a skeleton for a neighbor. Would it be rude to ask him to be one of the attractions?_

_“What would you even dress as? A human?” Shane joked, and he could’ve swore he saw a mischievous glint in Sans’ eye before he bust out into unrestrained laughter. Shane decided he liked the sound of it, but he’d take that realization to the grave._

_“Well, you’ll have to come with me if you wanna find out.” Shane went home after that, and Sans made a mental note to buy a scarecrow so his chickens wouldn’t flee anymore._

That was a week ago. Spirit’s Eve was now tomorrow, and the bar’s conversation seemed mostly geared toward the upcoming event. Clint was talking about going as a werewolf, Marlon as a pirate, and Emily as a zombie. There was a pleasant air of excitement that made Sans excited, too. He was tight-lipped, so to speak, about what he was going to do. Shane likewise was tight-lipped about what his plans were.

-

The next day the excitement was at its peak. After it turned dark out, the entire village began to gather in Pelican Town’s central square. Maru had finished one of her inventions for the event, a robot that manually DJ’d the ambient music and did it well. It was apparently a prototype of something that would be even better. The hedge maze was assembled, and there were a couple of booths being run. One was by Marnie, who was selling eggnog and wool clothing for the upcoming cold months. The other was by Pierre. Apparently Caroline outright refused to run the booth herself, and threw a fit when her husband still took over in spite of now being the mayor. He was selling Spirit’s Eve-themed scarecrows and carved pumpkins left over from the Harvest. Caroline was nowhere to be found.

Sans arrived fashionably late. He felt a little goofy in his costume; he’d considered just chickening out and wearing his ‘This _is_ my costume, I’m just cosplaying myself’ shirt like he’s done for years and years already. But he was actually feeling up to creating something this year and so forewent several visits to the Saloon over the course of the last month to have time to work on it. He sought out Shane, locating him near a goody bag table. He was carrying a plastic red cup and Sans assumed there was punch in it. He couldn’t tell if it was spiked or not.

“Hey,” Sans greeted, taking in Shane’s costume. He was all-out dressed as a Tunnelers’ Gridball player, wearing a personalized jersey and even protective gear. The jersey bore his last name printed on the back over the number 10. Shane was silent, also observing Sans’ get-up. On the skeleton’s head was a draconic skull with glowing blue eyes, its’ lower mandible framing the bottom half of his face. Down his back was a spine that appeared real, trailing all the way down into a tail that drug along the ground. On his top he wore a light blue tunic with white embroidery, silver pauldrons, and a midnight blue cape. White trousers ballooned out towards the ankles, stuffed into leather boots that matched the cape. The human couldn’t help but whistle, impressed by the amount of effort the costume must’ve taken.

“You make clothes before becoming a farmer?” Shane asked on a whim, and Sans looked briefly contemplative before nodding.

“I made a costume for my brother years ago. He wanted to join the Royal Guard and insisted on dressing as one for a costume party.” Sans spoke wistfully, avoiding eye-contact, and Shane fell into silence at this new knowledge. Sans didn’t know that the human was aware of the shrine on the farm. He didn’t know exactly what happened, but he knew the other’s brother wasn’t around anymore and could tell it was painful to talk about him.

The silence was broken when Vincent and Jas approached. Vincent was dressed as a vampire, and Jas as a forest elf. “Excuse me, Mr. Serif?” The latter teenager spoke, grabbing the Monster’s attention. “We were wondering if you could spice up the maze a little bit? It’s the same thing every year, and there’s not really much challenge to it…” She seemed nervous about asking, probably assuming that it would be racist to ask a skeleton Monster--practically the symbol of the Spirit’s Eve festival--to act as entertainment. Luckily for them, he didn’t seem to find much issue with it.

“Sure kiddo,” Sans replied, nodding. Both teenagers’ mouths split in wide grins before they scampered off towards the maze. “We’ll get a bit of a head start!” They called, vanishing beyond the hedges.

Having a bit of an idea of what Sans was capable of, Shane decided to speak up. “Don’t give them a heart-attack out there,” he warned. Sans simply gave him that mischievous look he’d given him a week ago, except this time it was accompanied by a wide grin that showcased his canines. They were distinctively sharper than the rest of his teeth, and Shane felt his heart do a flip in his chest.

“Nah, I’ll play nice. Don’t you worry,” Sans assured the human, and when Shane next blinked, the Monster suddenly vanished into thin air. A minute later, screams rang out from the hedge maze. Shane shook his head and turned to refill his cup.

-

Spirit’s Eve ended up being a wild success. Once the villagers caught on to Sans making the maze more interesting, almost everyone went through it at least once. It was unanimously agreed that Sans would be able to take home the golden pumpkin for going so out of his way. He didn’t really know what to do with it, but was grateful anyways.

Once everyone went home, Shane and Sans stayed behind. The latter approached the former with a small smile on his face, content with how the night went. It was pitch black outside save for the little bit of light the street lamps provided, and so Shane couldn’t help but be somewhat unnerved but also captivated by the way Sans’ eyelights glowed in the dark. They were like tiny little stars.

“You have fun?” Sans asked, and Shane nodded. “That’s good...I did too. Tonight was the most fun I’ve had in awhile, actually.” The two lapsed into a brief silence once more--it seemed to happen a lot. They didn’t necessarily have to always be talking to enjoy each other’s company. It had been awhile since the silence was awkward, barring earlier in the evening.

Both of them suddenly spoke at once, paused to look at each other, and then laughed.

“You go first,” Shane said, and Sans agreed. Seemingly out of nowhere he produced a wrapped gift, neatly covered without so much as a wrinkle in green paper and an electric blue ribbon. It was wrapped in the same attentive way Sans wrapped the gift he gave Shane on his Birthday months ago. Back then he’d been annoyed, thinking it a pity gift. That was before he’d learned that no, Monsters really were just that kind. This time he wordlessly untied the bow, gently unraveling the carefully wrapped parcel. It seemed rude to tear it all up when he’d clearly put so much effort into making it _present_ able. (Ugh. Sans was rubbing off on him.)

Peering inside, the gift was something that he didn’t really understand at first. It was a large lump of crystal, maybe the size of his fist. It was smooth and gave off a pleasant blue aura.

“That’s from the Underground, where my people came from,” Sans said, staring down at the crystal. But Shane wasn’t looking at the rock at that moment. He couldn’t help staring at the Monster instead, mesmerized by how the blue glow contoured the skeleton’s face. It should’ve looked creepy, but he found that it didn’t.

“Since we could never see the sky, Monsters would gather in a place in Waterfall that we called the Wishing Room. In there we’d wish upon the ‘stars’, which were really just these rocks in the walls that, overtime, became charged with potent magical energy. We’re not really supposed to pluck them out of the walls, but I took it with me before I moved to the Surface. I hope you like it?”

Shane was at a loss of words. He was caught between being his usual nonchalant self or completely breaking character to express just how touched he was. He didn’t want to seem ungrateful. “Sans...this is…” He rubbed his thumb over the crystal. It hummed and felt slightly warm, like Sans’ fingers did. “I don’t know what to say. This is a great gift. Thank you.”

“I’m glad you like it. Now, what did you want to tell me?” Shane flustered, now feeling like whatever he could possibly say would pale in the face of Sans’ impossible generosity. He slowly and gently placed the crystal back into its box to buy himself some time, shutting the lid back over it to keep the crystal safe.

“I uh…” He hesitated, scratching the back of his head with his free hand. “I just wanted to say that I appreciate your friendship. I’m not really good at expressing myself, so don’t expect to hear this again anytime soon. But...thank you. For going out of your way for me. I don’t know why you’d wanna be friends with a sorry scrap like myself, but I’m not ungrateful. Uh, far from it.” Shane cringed at his clumsy wording, avoiding eye-contact like the plague. This was good for Sans who himself momentarily lost his cool, skull having practically burst into blue flames. He looked away as well, fiddling with the metal clasp that kept the cape on his shoulders.

“It’s no problem. I enjoy being around you. The people here are nice, but you feel the most...real.” Shane startled; a long time ago the Farmer said something similar to him. They’d both been sitting on the bridge at the edge of the lagoon outside of Marnie’s ranch. He and the Farmer were drinking beer, opening up to each other for the first time. That night Shane learned that the Farmer had not experienced as happy of a life they pretended to, much like everyone else.

“Yeah...yeah. You too, buddy. Goodnight.”

"Night."

They both went their separate ways home.

-

Sans stripped out of his costume and flopped onto his back in the bed, clad in nothing but a pair of black boxers.

What a day.

Moonlight filtered through the bedroom window, casting everything in shadow. Due to being in the Underground for so long, most of Sans’ species developed acute night vision, and the skeleton Monster was no exception. In this low light, he could see everything almost perfectly.

He was surprised this timeline was lasting so long. It had been almost four years since Monsters surfaced, just a few more months until the Anniversary. There has yet to be any RESETs since coming up. Every time he went to bed it was with bated breath, expecting the worst, and each morning he ran to the window just to make sure he wasn’t back in his bedroom in Snowdin. He hated it.

Sometimes though, on his low days, he _wished_ a RESET would occur. The skeleton dearly missed his younger brother, that grief never went away. But at this point so much time has passed that Sans worried he’d finally snap if it _did_ rewind. After living through as many Groundhog days as he did, Sans was stretched so thin he was sure another would be his undoing. But then they finally broke through to the Surface. Everyone was alive, the humans didn’t commit a second genocide against them. The King wouldn’t wage war. Everything was peaceful.

But it wasn’t perfect.

Sans rolled over in bed, now facing the wall. His brows furrowed in the low light, memories washing over him unbidden.

_Sans called the Healer, but things were looking grim. Papyrus was fading fast. The humans were gone, having fled the scene once the damage was done._

_“You have to let me go, brother.” Papyrus’ voice was so quiet, a mere shadow of his usual boisterous tone. It made Sans feel sick to his non-existent stomach._

_“I won’t,” Sans shook his head, translucent blue tears streaming down his face and dripping onto the taller’s black sweater. Ever since surfacing, Papyrus took to wearing sweaters like a snake to heat. He claimed that they were soft. But this one now bore a ragged tear across the chest, a collapsing rib cage hidden underneath. “I won’t, Paps.”_

_With a shuddering breath, Papyrus took off one of his gloves. His long phalanges were slowly crumbling away. Shakily, the younger brother pressed his hand to the older’s face. He smiled weakly. “You must,” he said. “It’s okay...it doesn’t hurt anymore. I want you to Spread my Dust for me, Sans. Okay? You’re my favorite thing, you know. So no matter what we’ll always be together.”_

_It was the most painful decision Sans ever made. He screamed in the dark alleyway they were in, begging for a miracle. But there was nothing he could do. Even though he felt as if his own SOUL was going to break, he knew it wouldn’t. He was a Boss Monster. It would take more than this to do him in._

_Finally, Sans nodded._

_“Thank you,” Papyrus wheezed, slowly relaxing. His head gently lay back down on the pavement. “...Thank you. I love you, Sans.”_

_“I love you too, Papyrus.”_

_…_

_It was done. Papyrus’ body completely fell away, leaving nothing but a pile of clothes and the Dust that clung to it. Sans shoved it all into his Inventory before standing up and beginning his search._

_Those humans wouldn’t get away with what they’d done._

_Blinking, Sans’ eyelights disappeared as his surroundings faded out and turned to black. All around him were SOULs of different colors, both human and Monster. They were the only colors he could see in this dark reality._

_The humans he was looking for couldn’t have made it far. He set out after them, following an invisible trail that only he could see. Tiny traces of Papyrus’ Dust spread out before him like breadcrumbs._

_He was the Judge, and an injustice had been performed. He intended to find Retribution._

_For Papyrus._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case anyone is wondering, the number on Shane's jersey isn't random! The number 10 is how many hearts the Player needs to get with Shane before he invites them to the Tunnelers' game in Zuzu City.
> 
> We got more of a glimpse into what happened to Papyrus! But what did Sans do to the humans that killed him?
> 
> I slaved a lot over this chapter and nitpicked the Hell out of it. I wasn't as happy with it at first as I was with the previous two, but now think I've got it in an at least acceptable state.


	4. Year One, Winter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans woke up slowly, sitting up in bed and rubbing his eyes. He had a hangover, which was aggravated by the scant light filtering in through the window. He groaned and considered just rolling over and going back to sleep, but something was wrong.
> 
> His mattress was on the floor, sheets kicked off the bed due to his fussing during the night. Suddenly wide awake, Sans shot out of bed and threw open his bedroom door. Pressing his body flush to the railing, he overlooked the first floor of the house. **(The _Underground_ house. No, no, no, no, _no._ Why was he back here?)** He could hear rhythmic humming coming from the kitchen. From _Papyrus._ It was a song the younger brother had heard at the costume party, and it had been an ear worm ever since.
> 
> _Which meant…_
> 
> “Oh, good morning Sans! I didn’t see you there. You’re up early.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, here's chapter four! I stayed up for like 3 hours--until almost 4am--to write this. It's more than twice the size of the previous chapters. I went to bed and when I woke up went back to edit everything, so it's all nice and polished.
> 
> Enjoy!

_Sans woke up slowly, sitting up in bed and rubbing his eyes. He had a hangover, which was aggravated by the scant light filtering in through the window. He groaned and considered just rolling over and going back to sleep, but something was wrong._

_His mattress was on the floor, sheets kicked off the bed due to his fussing during the night. Suddenly wide awake, Sans shot out of bed and threw open his bedroom door. Pressing his body flush to the railing, he overlooked the first floor of the house. **(The _Underground_ house. No, no, no, no, _no._ Why was he back here?)** He could hear rhythmic humming coming from the kitchen. From _Papyrus._ It was a song the younger brother heard at the costume party, and it’d been an earworm ever since._

_Which meant…_

_“Oh, good morning Sans! I didn’t see you there. You’re up early.”_

_Sans never would have thought he’d _dread_ seeing his brother. At least not like this, not right here. The implications of it were too much. He felt faint, and stumbled to the side. At once Papyrus sprang up the stairs, reaching out to hold him steady. “Brother? What is it, are you alright? You weren’t drinking at Grillby’s again last night were you?”_

_Sans looked up at his brother and immediately burst into tears. Guilt and shame flooded him. Back then **(which back then was currently _now_ again, he thought with no shortage of self-hatred)** he’d been such a slob, putting so much weight onto his brother because of his depression. But he also mourned what had been lost to the last RESET. Sans opened his mouth to speak, but no words would come out. At once long bony arms were around him, hefting him up off the ground in a protective embrace. Just like it’s been done a thousand times before. Sans clung on for dear life, silently gasping for breath._

_“It’ll be okay, Sans. Just breathe. Was it another nightmare?”_

_Before Sans even had the chance to nod, the environment suddenly changed and he could feel a breeze around them. They were in an alleyway on the Surface. Papyrus collapsed to the ground, chest cavity split open from the wound the humans inflicted. Sans was crying all over again, now for a different reason._

_“Papyrus, don’t leave me!”_

_“This is your fault.” Sans’ sockets widened at the disappointment and scorn in his brother’s voice. Papyrus _never_ spoke to him like that. Looking up, the taller brother was quickly turning to Dust. “If you hadn’t been a coward, and didn’t run away, this wouldn’t have happened. This is all your fault, Sans.”_

_“No, no please. I-I didn’t mean to. Paps, please-” but with a gust of wind Papyrus was gone, leaving nothing but his clothes behind. Sans collapsed into a heap on the pavement, screaming his SOUL out to the open air._

Sans shot awake with a gasp, rocketing upright in bed and left hand flying to his chest. His breathing was ragged, eyelights glancing wildly about the room in search of something to ground himself with. His ankle was tangled up in his blankets (undoubtedly from flailing around in his sleep), so when he attempted to stand up he fell face-first out of the bed and onto the hardwood floor. Reaching back he hastily freed himself before crawling over to the nearest window, glancing outside.

Whenever Sans saw snow, his SOUL felt frostbitten. So many times in the past there had been a RESET before the Wintertime could come to the Surface, meaning that he almost exclusively associated it with being stuck back Underground. But never before, in any timeline, did they ever make it this many years down the line. Almost four years ago the Anomaly abruptly vanished, seemingly without a trace. Still, ever since Sans woke up last week to the first signs of snow falling from the sky, waking up from nightmares and having panic attacks established itself as a part of his morning routine.

Falling back to the ground, Sans curled up in a ball and suffered an attack right there on the floor. Hours must’ve passed, because it was suddenly 9am and there was a knock from the door. He really didn’t want to answer it--he knew who it was. But he wasn’t about to leave his friend outside in the cold, even if he felt like moving would Dust him.

Sans stood up on shaky legs and wiped away his tears before leaving the bedroom. He crossed the threshold and slowly opened the door, peering out. Shane was standing there looking chilly, several bags of chicken feed and a couple bales of hay in that same green wheelbarrow with the chipped paint. Delicate snowflakes sat on top of his raven-haired head, and his cheeks were flushed with the chill. With every breath a cloud of white escaped his mouth. Shane looked like he was about to say something, but stopped short upon seeing Sans’ expression.

“Oh, jeez man. Are you alright?” Shane’s eyes widened when Sans suddenly threw himself into his chest, arms wrapping around the taller man in a vice grip. He was shaking so hard his bones were rattling, but his sobs were silent save for the occasional shuddering gasp. **(He wanted his brother, but this would have to do.)** Shane (unfortunately) knew from experience that silent crying meant Sans had often been forced to hide his emotions in the past. Since the beginning, Sans had _always_ been more emotionally reserved and mysterious than Shane was, even though the skeleton was the one to go out of his way to make this friendship work in the first place. 

Expression softening, Shane wrapped his arms around the shorter male. They stood there for a moment before he made the decision to scoop his slight friend up. Sans stiffened at first before going limp in his grip, like a kitten being scruffed. The mental image amused Shane in spite of the situation and he made a mental note to share it with the other once this passed. Kicking the door shut behind the two of them, Shane waddled them both over to the couch.

It was weird to be in the Farmhouse again. This was his home for years, but while there were some things that hadn’t changed, he could see the little personal touches Sans made here and there. There was an end table next to the couch, and on it was a plate with a rock covered in sprinkles. On the entertainment center there was a stack of DVDs. Upon closer inspection they appeared to be alphabetized. In the corner by the window there was a writing desk covered in piles of paper with writing in a language he couldn’t decipher.

Shane gently deposited Sans on the couch before following suit. He wasn’t very good at emotional support, but needed to help his friend. So he just did what his therapist taught him to do for himself.

Opening the MP3 player app on his phone, Shane selected a playlist of music for the open air. It wasn’t exactly relaxing music; some of it was metal and some of it angsty. But it was specifically music that he associated in some way with a positive memory. It wouldn’t have the same significance to Sans, but hopefully it would give him something to ground himself with.

At first Sans remained completely unresponsive, tucked into Shane’s side and eyelights absent from his sockets. It was pretty intimidating to look at; the skeleton almost looked like an actual corpse when he did it, and Shane could count on one hand the amount of times he’d seen Sans’ friendly and cartoonish pupils vanish. None of those times came from anything good.

When the third song ended and nothing changed, Shane decided to turn down the music and switched tactics. Instead he started talking about whatever came to mind.

“The farmhouse is in good shape,” he began, wavering at first. He felt stupid and awkward, but it wasn’t about him. This was for Sans. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been in here.” He didn’t have the slightest clue whether or not the Monster was even listening, but pressed on regardless. “At first, I was pretty peeved that someone new was moving in. I didn’t like the thought of some asshole coming along and changing everything. But now, I’m grateful for it. _They_ wouldn’t want this place to be empty forever...we made a lot of good memories in this house together, and I hope it’s been the same for you.” Sans finally stopped shaking, and Shane exhaled with silent relief. “You’re a good person, Sans. For the record, I’m glad it was you.”

-

After that day, Sans spent more and more time around Shane. There were no crops to cultivate; he only needed to tend to his three chickens and one lamb, leaving him with a lot of spare time on his hands. Being around the other male helped ground him in the present. Ever since he’d been caught during his panic attack, Shane came over at least once a day to check on him. Even if there wasn’t an order to be filled.

Sans didn’t tell Shane what the panic attacks were about and Shane never asked. But as far as Sans knew he hadn’t met Shane in any other timeline, so he was good for breaking the skeleton out of his dissociative hazes. Whenever Sans’ nightmares struck--which was almost every day now, with the snow--he just shortcut straight to the ranch and knocked on the door. Shane always answered and stepped aside to let him in no questions asked. After awhile, he picked up on the fact Sans didn’t eat when he was anxious, so Shane would heat up some oatmeal and the two of them would wordlessly watch television until Sans broke out of his trance.

Neither of them went to the Saloon lately; it’d been a few weeks now. Instead they were often in Shane’s bedroom together playing on his Mega Station. Sans was nursing a virgin Bloody Mary (“Keep your weird ketchup-drinking habit at the bar, Sans”) while Shane drank a simple sparkling water. The two of them were playing a hack-and-slash--or rather Shane was playing while Sans watched.

“I’m just saying, you’ve been living in that Farmhouse for almost a year now Sans. You’ve barely got more than the basic essentials in that place. I think you could benefit from having a console to destress. Not all games are intense like this, there are some cathartic ones too.” Shane never admitted it aloud, but both of them knew he was worried about the sudden frequency of Sans’ attacks. “At least do that if you won’t see a therapist. I don’t know how they wouldn’t understand what you’re going through- they’re trained for this sort of stuff, and offered me solutions to some pretty out there problems.”

“This is different. They wouldn’t understand, they’d think I have psychosis and put me in a ward.” No average person could ever know about the RESETs. The only proof Sans could show of them happening was the graphs he’d printed from that old machine back in the basement of his house Underground, before it broke. And he could never let humanity see that proof. If his theory was correct, Frisk was somehow connected to the Anomaly (and before that, a cursed yellow flower. The last time it happened was so many RESETs ago, but he would never forget. Even if he wanted to). If a human child could harness such a magnificent power, he was terrified of what an _adult_ human could do if they gained access to it.

“If you say so. But hey, I’ve actually been wanting to ask you something. The next town over there’s a theater, and they’re gonna be playing this new movie I’ve been wanting to see. It’s supposed to be pretty good, but I was wondering if you’d like to tag along?”

Shane paused the game to ask this question, but seemed determined to avoid Sans’ curious stare. His cheeks were flushed a soft shade of pink, and Sans could feel his own face darken. Was Shane asking him out? He’d never been on a date before (not a real one anyways). The pair still struggled to be open about the extent of their friendship in public, but in private they’d grown to be quite close. Every now and again they flirted with each other, but up until now Sans just viewed it as messing around. Joking. Was he wrong?

It wasn’t like he minded, he’d just been very intently avoiding addressing the way being around the human made his SOUL feel light and tingly.

“Sure, that sounds like a good time.” Eh, what the Hell? Sans hadn’t left the Valley since he moved in, he could use a change of scenery. Besides, he couldn’t possibly regret his choice when Shane looked at him like that, sullen eyes now glowing and a pleased smile on his unshaven face. “Cool, looking forward to it. It premieres tomorrow, is that alright?” Sans nodded. “Alright, I’ll meet you at the bus stop at 3pm. For now, let’s keep playing this.”

-

Sans and Shane both cleaned up for the night out. It was kind of funny; they were just going to the movies, not to an expensive restaurant or anything. But neither wanted to be caught dead going on a friendly-outing-slash-date wearing their casual attire. Sans wore a black t-shirt with white Comic Sans text that read ‘Bad to the Bone’, his signature blue jacket, and ombre blue skinny jeans. Somehow, even though he was just a skeleton he filled them out perfectly without looking like he was walking on sticks. The look was tied together with blue high-rise Converse, laces neatly tied. The get-up made him look remarkably androgynous. Shane was impressed. He himself decided to brush and lightly style his hair. He fussed over it so much, Marnie caught him and teased the Hell out of him. He wore green and blue flannel under a dark gray jacket vest, acid-washed jeans, and black sneakers.

The bus ride overall wasn’t anything special. Shane took the window seat and Sans not-so-subtly cuddled into his side, mumbling some excuse about being chilly. In response, In response, Shane wordlessly slung his arm around his Monster companion’s shoulder. This earned them both several looks of disgust from the passengers around them, but nobody openly spoke against it.

There was only a short line at the theater. When they made it inside Sans approached the concessions stand to buy snacks, but Shane stopped him and insisted it wasn’t necessary. Sans was confused but didn't argue. Before long they were in the showroom. They sat next to each other in the theater, and about halfway through the movie Shane pulled a bag of gummies from his pants pocket. Sans’ sockets widened slightly, but then he just shook his head. Shane snuck them in, but it was pointless to say anything--theater food _was_ expensive--so they ate the gummies together over the course of the rest of the movie.

In Sans’ opinion the movie was just above average, but Shane clearly enjoyed it judging from how he raved about it afterwards. Even though their enjoyment wasn’t mutual, Sans still had a good time. It was nice to take a break from farm life for a little bit now and again. The two of them walked outside to stand at the bus stop. It was getting dark outside, the Winter chill beckoning Shane to tuck further into his layers. Sans meanwhile hardly noticed; Snowdin had been much worse.

It was silent outside save for the gusts of wind kicking up snow flurries around them. Overhead a street lamp flickered. It was actually pretty peaceful. Until Sans felt a sudden spike of anxiety in his chest, right before a hand grabbed Shane’s shoulder and yanked him around. “What the fu-” Shane began to shout, before registering the group of men standing there. They were a rugged bunch, five total and all looking pissed. It instantly set Sans on edge--he’d seen this exact scenario before. Racist anti-Monster humans were all the same.

_Sans and Papyrus exited an arcade together. It was late, and they were heading to the car when it happened. A group of men jumped the brothers, yanking them into the nearby alley before setting upon them. They were terribly outnumbered._

_“Sans, you need to get away from here. Find somewhere safe to hide.”_

_“No bro. I won’t leave you here!”_

_“Sans, I’m serious! I can do this. Please, just go!”_

_Sans hesitated for a moment longer, ducking beneath one of the humans’ baseball bats and feeling his SOUL thud hard in his chest. If that had landed, he would’ve been Dusted on the spot. He wanted to grab Papyrus and shortcut the Hell out of here, but before he could the humans shepherded them apart using sheer numbers. Resigned Sans finally nodded before shortcutting away, but remained nearby so he could listen. He didn’t bother calling the authorities; they wouldn’t care. Would just side with the humans. At first it sounded like everything would be okay; there were several sets of retreating footsteps. He peered out from behind the dumpster he was crouched behind, seeing that Papyrus was occupied with fighting two humans in front of him. He was actually handling himself pretty well, keeping up and fighting much more proficiently than he demonstrated against Frisk. But there was a third approaching silently from behind, weapon raised._

_“Pap-!” He began, but it was too late. What happened next scarred him._

_The human from behind struck Papyrus over the back of the head. Stunned, the taller skeleton stumbled to the side. The humans in the front wasted no time in seizing their advantage, and slashed with a knife sharpened with ill intentions. The sickening sound of metal cutting through bone sliced the air._

_Sans had seen enough._

_Righteous rage filled him. Shortcutting back out from behind the dumpster he summoned Gaster Blasters, one damage be damned. They should look scary enough. The hulking skulls frothed with raw, white-hot energy. He fired upon the humans, uncaring of the split pavement the blasts created. Debris flew everywhere. The noise it made in the enclosed space was deafening. Black-hearted humans like these only attacked things they thought were weaker than them, and must’ve realized that they miscalculated. Immediately they scattered like the cowards they were, leaving the brothers alone._

He wouldn’t let that happen again.

The moment one of the men reared back his fist with intent to strike, Sans acted. He was a flurry of motion, shortcutting between each of them. He first yanked the most immediate threat away from Shane, intercepting the punch by tugging his opponent back by the collar of his jacket. The man shouted with indignant and shocked rage.

“Your beef is with me.” Sans growled, sockets black voids. In the cover of night, Shane thought his friend looked fresh out of a horror film. But his ploy worked, and the men seemed to forget about Shane entirely. Unaware of the Boss Monster’s capabilities--or the fact that he was a Boss Monster to begin with--Shane was immediately concerned, and moved towards the nearest threat to attack. But at once he was struck across the face, landing ass over teakettle on the ground. The pavement scratched his face, rubble digging into fresh cuts. “Wait your turn, Monster-lover. You’ll be next. You, keep him out of the way.”

The humans were closing in, and Shane was scared to watch. But one of them broke rank to focus on him instead, while the other four continued to zero in on Sans. Sans would have to handle himself, but Shane didn’t know how he could. There was no way a Monster could take on this many humans; humans were stronger, that was universal knowledge.

Shane scrambled to get up. He didn’t really have much fighting experience, but all that hard work on the ranch meant he wasn’t nearly as squishy as he’d been back when he worked as a stocker at Joja. His opponent took the first swing at him but Shane ducked out of the way, feinting a punch to the right before instead striking from the left, clocking the other right in the jaw. He could feel adrenaline beginning to rush to numb the pain it left in his fist, and he shook his fingers out with a hiss. But revenge sure was sweet--that would definitely leave a bruise to match.

“Why you little-” Shane took a step back when the other suddenly pulled out a knife, swinging it quickly back and forth. The danger significantly increased, and Shane felt cold fear but knew that if he wanted to help Sans, he would have to win this.

Dodging the swinging blade and thinking fast, Shane dove towards the alley wall and grabbed a loose black trash bag before hurtling it at his attacker, who shouted a shocked expletive. Taking his chance, Shane then raced forward and dove to the side, using his leg to sweep the other male’s legs out from under him. His attacker went crashing to the ground. Shane took the opening to drop to the ground and, using his knee and body weight to pin the other’s arm to the ground, wrest the knife from his grasp before tossing it far enough to land in the street.

The man’s free arm came up to bowl Shane off of him, but fortunately he was able to roll off in time, using the momentum to jump to his feet. When his aggressor tried to sit up, Shane kicked him underneath the chin, sending him reeling back to the ground. He knew his toes would ache later, but that wasn’t important now. Straddling the other’s chest, Shane grabbed either side of his head before bashing it into the concrete. He didn’t try to get up again.

Once Shane’s opponent was subdued, he looked up just in time to see Sans was still very much alive. In fact, he appeared to be doing just fine holding up on his own, as his opponents shouted upon being thrown to the ground by an unseen force. Sans’ left hand was outstretched, palm facing down and left socket flaring a menacing blue. The men were all lifted off the ground before being slammed down again, in sync with Sans’ movements. They were already pretty beaten up, implying that this had been going on for awhile. Levitating bones flew at them, knocking into them before dissipating. Shane gaped as huge draconic skulls were summoned, aimed directly at the humans. Shane recalled back on Spirit’s Eve when Sans’d worn an outfit that bore a striking resemblance to these eldritch creatures. But they looked far less friendly than the innocent costume piece had, white-hot energy dripping from their gaping maws.

The only warning Shane and the men got was a high-pitched whine before everything went white. Shane thought he might have heard screaming, but he couldn’t be sure. Once the light dissipated Shane was forced to blink a few times to readjust to the darkness. His vision refocused just in time to see Sans throw all five men, including the one Shane himself rendered unconscious, out of the alleyway. They tumbled and landed in a heap, scrambling to get away. They hefted up their unconscious comrade with metaphorical tails tucked, exclaiming “demon! It’s a demon!” until they were out of earshot. Shane was panting with residual adrenaline, and upon looking at Sans could tell he wasn’t faring any better. Even so, Shane was shocked. It was so hard to get Sans to talk about himself at all, with the Monster deflecting all the time. He didn’t know before now just how strong his friend actually was.

“Sans?” The skeleton jumped, eyelights returning to his sockets as he reciprocated his companion’s gaze. The Monster was less than five feet away, but his mind was clearly somewhere else. “Let’s go home. The bus arrives soon.”

“We’re not gonna wait for the bus,” Sans growled, closing the distance between the both of them. He fell into Shane’s arms, holding him tight. “I was scared they were going to hurt you...or even kill you. Like they...like they…” Understanding dawned on Shane, and he clutched his friend so tightly he went white-knuckled.

“It’s okay, Sans. But if we’re not going to take the bus, what are we going to-” His stomach suddenly bottomed out from underneath him like he was in a falling elevator. He fell into infinite blackness and it took both an eternity and just a moment all at once. Then just like that it was over, and they were in the Farmhouse living room. Shane exhaled heavily, looking around wide-eyed. “...do? Whoa. Sans, what the Hell was that?”

“I took a shortcut,” Sans wheezed, before collapsing on the ground. “Don’t worry, I’m fine. Just calming down.”

Sans ended up falling asleep on the floor, so Shane took it upon himself to carry the skeleton to his bed and tuck him in. He didn’t appear at peace even when unconscious, and Shane ached to do more but was at a loss. It was entirely possible the skeleton saved his life tonight. But he knew why those men attacked them--it was because of their friendship. Would Sans blame himself? Did he blame himself for the death of Papyrus?

Shane was too exhausted to go home that night, so he just wandered back out to the couch and fell onto it. He sent a text to Marnie to let her know where he was and not to worry before discarding his phone on the floor. After that he proceeded to quickly pass out.

-

“What do you _mean_ you were attacked?!”

The next day, Shane woke up before Sans and quietly headed home. As soon as he’d entered the house Marnie set upon him frantically, inspecting him for any injuries. “It’s exactly what I said last night, Marnie. I took Sans to the movies and while we were waiting for the bus home, we were ambushed. But he...he saved me. It was incredible. I thought Monsters were supposed to be weaker than humans, but he took on four at once like it was nothing.”

Marnie was concerned about this, but ultimately grateful they were okay and not dead in some alleyway a town over. She informed him that she would be calling Harvey to give him a check-up, no ‘if’, ‘and’, or ‘but’s about it. “But Marnie, I’m fine. I just got clocked in the face and scraped up a little.” He wore a dark purple bruise to prove it. “It’s Sans that we should really be worrying about. Wait...is Harvey even trained in Monster health?”

What if Sans got sick? They lived in the countryside, an hour from a hospital in any direction. Marnie seemed to realize this at the same time as he did, judging from her alarmed expression.

-

“I’m by no means an expert on the subject, but when Monsters surfaced I did a bit of research and at least know the basics. From what you described Shane, it sounds like Sans might be a Boss Monster. And a very powerful one, at that.” Harvey had called Shane into the clinic, and he was currently sitting on an examination table getting his cheek checked out. “You managed to avoid a fracture, but it’s really swollen. I needed to clean out your cuts because there was stray dirt in it. When it gets sore apply ice and if needed take anti-inflammatory painkillers. If it shows any signs of getting worse or you develop an infection, come back to see me.”

“Okay,” Shane nodded. “But you say Sans is a Boss Monster? What is that? It sounds like something you’d hear out of an RPG game.”

“In a way, that’s what it is,” Harvey replied. “It’s a similar concept. If I understand correctly, Boss Monsters are an extremely rare subset of Monster. They’re typically important in some way. The King and Queen of Monsters are widely recognized as two of them. I don’t know what that says about Sans specifically, but I’m glad for both of you that he ended up being one. I fear things would have turned out very differently otherwise.” Shane swallowed thickly, but agreed with what the doctor was implying. Were Sans a regular Monster, he would have surely been Dusted instantly. Yoba knows what would’ve happened to Shane after that.

But with this new information, Shane couldn’t help but reevaluate what he knew about Sans. He was a great friend, but even now remained shrouded in mystery. If he was a Boss Monster, in what way was he significant to his species? He knew now from the fight that Sans wasn’t just ridiculously fast, but instead seemed capable of outright _teleportation._ How else could he have dodged all those blows and gotten them home so quickly? And those skulls...he shuddered at the thought of being on the business end of one of those.

He would have to keep this knowledge to himself. It was clear Sans only showed just how powerful he was in desperate situations, and Shane didn’t want to cause a scare. All anyone needed to know was that they survived the attack. The details weren’t important.

Their night out may have ended on a sour note, but Shane knew what he needed to do now. He would need to express his gratitude. Anxiety turned his stomach to knots, but he hardened his resolve. The man had known for some time that this was what he wanted. He was scared- no, terrified, that this would only end poorly. He didn’t even know which way Sans swung. Sans could just be a very affectionate person around people he liked.

The only way he would know was if he took the leap. Shane thanked Harvey before standing up and leaving, heading next door to Pierre’s. He couldn’t chicken out now.

He was totally chickening out.

Shane paced back and forth just off the boundary of Sans’ property for nearly a half an hour. In his hand he carried a bouquet containing flowers of red, white, and pink. “C’mon Shane, what’s the worst that can happen?” He tried to psyche himself up, but it just made him more anxious. There was a _lot_ that could go wrong. “No, this was a bad idea...we’ve only been on one actual date, and Sans probably didn’t even know it _was_ one! Not to mention we nearly _died_ at the end of it.” The human scoffed; how romantic. He almost turned around. But if he did, the flowers would wilt and he would never forgive himself. It would merely become a symbol of his cowardice.

“No, I’m doing this.” Straightening up, Shane finally forced himself to walk onto the property. His footsteps left snowy imprints on the ground, and the wooden porch steps creaked when he stepped on them. He knocked on the door before stepping back to wait. It was silent for a moment before Sans opened the door, appearing relieved to see Shane. His gaze immediately honed in on the nasty bruise on his face, however. “Stars, are you okay? That’s quite the shiner.” Pause. “Not your best _glow_ -up attempt there, Shane. Heh.” If he was punning, then that must mean Sans was okay. Shane sighed with relief before stepping inside, Sans moving aside to let him and shutting the door behind him.

“Look...Sans, I just wanted to thank you for saving my hide yesterday. And also apologize.” He sighed. “I never really met Monsters before you came here, and since everyone here seems to like you in some capacity, I guess I forgot for a minute how shitty humanity is. If I’d known that would’ve happened...I’d’ve just invited you to my place to watch a movie there.”

“It’s okay, Shane,” Sans said. “I’m sorry too. You shouldn’t have seen me like that--but I’m just glad you’re okay. What have you got there?” Shane jolted, suddenly remembering the true reason he came. It was so easy to relax around Sans, but all at once his nerves returned. The bouquet was hidden behind his back, but he hesitated in presenting the other with it.

“Uhh...well, I wanted to get a thank-you gift. For...you know, saving my life.” His face was growing redder by the moment, quickly crawling down his neck. “Also for being my friend, and putting up with how shitty I was at first. That’s the second time now someone’s been patient with me when I didn’t deserve it, and it means a lot.” Just deciding to get it over with and rip the band-aid off, Shane shoved the bouquet forward. “S-so I got this. For you.”

“Flowers?” Sans seemed confused, but none-the-less accepted the assortment. “Thank you...they’re really pretty.”

Shane stared at Sans, expecting something more, and both broke into a sweat when neither said anything more. “Well?” Shane’s voice cracked, confusion plain as day on his face. “Well what?” Sans shot back, confused. “Do you have anything to say? Do you accept or decline?” Now it was the skeleton’s turn to be confused, brows furrowing as he stared at his friend. “Accept or decline...what?”

“Wait.” Shane face-palmed. “Ughhh. Right, you’re not from Ferngill. Of course nobody would have told you what the bouquet means...look.” Shane took the bouquet back, gently setting it aside on the dining room table. “Bouquets here...they’re a proposal.” When Sans’ sockets began widening with shock, Shane rushed to elaborate. “N-not for marriage! Or, uh, anything scandalous. It’s a. Date request. I-I want you to date me. Be my boyfriend? Augh, be my partner. So do you accept or decline or what?”

Sans lapsed into a brief silence, completely gobsmacked. He’d planned on taking his little crush to the grave, and never considered a reality where Shane asked him to be his partner. It was surprising, but he knew what his answer was.

“Yes,” Sans said, causing Shane to jerk in surprise. They were both an awkward mess in this situation, then. At least neither were alone. “Yes, I accept. I actually thought you’d never ask.” Sans took a couple steps closer to Shane, tilting his head to look up at him. The top of his head reached Shane’s nose. Skeletal fingers grasped the loose fabric of the human’s shirt, yanking him down into a kiss.

Sans didn’t exactly have lips, but Shane learned early on that he was very expressive even without them. In spite of being made of bone, it molded and changed not unlike human skin. So it wasn’t teeth he kissed, not really. But even if he did it wouldn’t have mattered. Kissing Sans felt like kissing a warm coffee mug, if a coffee mug could be adorable, awkward, and nerdy. His magic crackled and hummed against cracked lips, chapped from constant anxious licking and scarred from compulsive plucking. It only lasted a moment, but as soon as they parted Shane wanted to dive right back in. He refrained in favor of asking a question he’d wanted answered for months now.

“Alright, new boyfriend. It’s time you told me. When is your birthday?”

-

It turned out Sans’ birthday was January 4th. It was just two weeks away, and Shane was thinking about what could possibly be done for it. He didn’t even know how old Sans was--when asked, the skeleton Monster simply shrugged and explained that there was only a loose sense of time Underground and that “time is relative anyways”.

Shane went to the Saloon for the first time in awhile. Gus greeted him cheerily. “The usual?” He inquired, but Shane shook his head before just asking for water. “Can I ask you something? You hear a lot of stuff about the people around town. Do you know what sorts of things Sans likes?”

Gus appeared put-off by the question, but only for a moment before giving it some thought. “What does Sans like? Well...one night when you were absent, he explained that the first thing he’d done upon reaching the Surface was just lay down and stargaze. Unsurprising considering where they came from. So maybe something to do with outer space?”

And that was how Shane ended up spending the rest of the day on his phone, browsing Jungle.com for any good deals. The site was excellent at shipping items fast, even to places as remote as Pelican Town. It was like a bigger, better, and higher quality version of Joja Corporation. He scoured the astrology section for hours, considering everything from an Andromeda poster to galaxy-themed high-rise shoes.

It took a lot of searching, but eventually he settled for something he knew would be perfect. Adding it to his cart, he entered his payment information before pressing purchase. Now all he had to do was wait.

-

Sans was preparing to head to Shane’s place. They often hung out, so Sans didn’t find it too unusual. But the way the other spoke to him, rushed and flustered, was odd. He wasn’t dumb; he knew it was his Birthday today, but he couldn’t begin to guess what the other’s plans were for him. Regardless, he figured so long as it wasn’t a surprise party he would be fine. He was wearing what he’d worn the night of his trip to the movies with Shane, except his skinny jeans were replaced by comfortable and baggy sweatpants. He shortcut to the front lawn before just opening the door and walking in. Marnie wasn’t at the counter, but footsteps coming from his right made him look towards the dining room and kitchen. Shane was approaching, grinning awkwardly in nothing but a band tee and mismatched pajama pants.

“Hey! Glad you could make it,” Shane said, clapping his partner on the back. Sans lurched forward slightly, but had grown used to it thanks to Robin. Now, he hardly budged where he’s been nearly bowled over before. Sans smiled at his boyfriend (it was weird to think of him like that, but it was a nice weird). “So I _might_ have written your name on the communal calendar, I hope you don’t mind. I know you don’t like being in close quarters with a lot of people at once though, so everyone just dropped their gifts off beforehand.”

Sans peered over Shane’s shoulder to look at the dining room table. It was piled high with gifts wrapped in all sorts of colors and patterns, shapes and sizes. His gaze fixed on one gift in particular: it was huge, and from Shane. It was shocking to learn that so many people cared about him. It brought happy tears to his eyes.

“You shouldn’t have,” Sans said, but the gratitude in his eyelights was all Shane needed. Beaming, the human led him over to the mountain of gifts.

“I know, but I did it anyway. C’mon, start unwrapping. You can open mine last.”

So Sans set to unpacking his gifts. There was a beautifully cut sapphire from Clint, a succulent from Emily, a discount coupon to the Stardrop Saloon from Gus, and much more. Some of the gifts were right up Sans’ alley, while others were obviously the kinds of things their senders liked. But regardless the Monster was touched. He moved here expecting to become a hermit, aside from maybe one or two friends. But he’d been unwittingly pulled into this community and accepted as one of them. His SOUL felt light and airy in his chest, and emotions climbed higher inside of him. By the time Shane gestured to the gift he’d gotten the Monster, his face was split in a genuine smile. But he hesitated at its sheer size.

“Wait, Shane...anything this big must’ve been expensive. What did you-” Shane shushed him, gesturing for him to just open it.

The gift was enveloped by bright blue wrapping paper with a dark blue bow on top, comically small in comparison to the box’s sheer size. He removed the bow and began unwrapping, carefully so he wouldn’t rip the paper. He intended to help Shane clean up all of the mess after this, there was paper and ribbon scattered everywhere. But by help, he meant he planned to use his Blue magic to dump it all into the trash. Shane has seen the vast majority of his skill set by this point, so there wasn’t much reason to hide it now.

It was a sleek white box. Printed on the side was the picture of an Orion 8946 Skyquest XT10. Sans gasped, and if he possessed eyes they would have almost certainly bugged out of his head. “Shane--this must’ve been ridiculously expensive.” He wasn’t comfortable with the thought of anyone spending this much money on him, but Shane shushed him. “I’ve had years to do lots of saving since I got my habit under control. You know, except for the first few months you lived here. But uh, point is- I could more than afford this, and I heard you like outer space. Tonight’s gonna be the peak of the Quadrantids Meteor Shower, so I thought ‘hey, this would be literal perfect timing’. So, uh, happy Birthday Sans.”

Sans was pretty sure he’d never been happier in his life. Even getting to the Surface couldn’t compare. That was the second time he and Shane kissed, and afterwards the skeleton had peppered mini-smooches all over his partner’s face. They both laughed between kisses. Later that night they ventured out to the cliffs overlooking Robin and Demetrius’ house. With the telescope and a couple of fold-out chairs, they observed the Heavens above.

“Shooting star, make a wish,” Shane said upon seeing the first meteor. Sans was glued to the eyepiece of the telescope, looking through it and undoubtedly seeing some pretty amazing things. Shane knew this because when Sans turned to look at him, his eyelights had turned to huge white stars. It was as hilarious as it was adorable. The skeleton blinked and they were gone, replaced by contemplation.

(The skeleton’s breath puffed out in warm white clouds, reminding Shane of just how cold it was outside. He found it so interesting that even though Sans was a skeleton, he still breathed. It made sense since he was a living thing, but part of his brain still didn’t want to register it even after all this time.)

“I wish for things to stay like this. I want it to stay good, and I want it to be with you.” Sans blushed brilliantly at his confession, and Shane smiled before redirecting his gaze back up.

“Funny, I wished for something similar. That means it has twice the chance of coming true.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact, before I edited this chapter it was exactly 6,000 words. Now it's over 7,000. Also, the Quadrantids Meteor Shower is actually on January 4th! I chose Sans' Birthday before I knew this, so it was a pleasant and convenient surprise. :)
> 
> They survived an attack and are now dating! What's gonna happen come Spring? :> There's just two chapters left!
> 
> EDIT: Before I upload the next chapter tomorrow, I'm going to go through the first four and make some minor changes. The storyline will remain the same, so re-reading is completely optional. But I read through all four chapters and realized I used the word "had" over _300 times!_ So I'm going to remedy that and correct some tense errors. :)  
> EDIT 2 (09/05/2020): All four chapters have now been fully edited! So expect chapter 5 soon!


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